Man, is there anything less fun than coming back to your normal, mid-sized, dog hair covered house after a luxury vacation? I have GOT to win the lottery. Or at least start making enough money so I can afford someone to come in and clean up this dog hair once a week. Sheesh.

Sunday:

Tiny bebehs, giant bathtub

Still not enough cheese.

No one can resist Caroline's cuddles

Monday:

Screw you beach house. Screw you and your perfect sunrise.

Dog-hair free. And so so shiny.

At least it was a nice day for driving.

Tuesday:

Crazy ass giant mouse thing at the Natural History Museum

I took approximately 500 pictures of butterflies, so if they all disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow I'M GOOD.

The only thing left on the Missoni accessory rack. I didn't buy it.

Wednesday:

Luggage in my kitchen. Guess how much has been put away as of this morning. (Hint: NONE)

Kisses.

A photo of me editing photos. Aren't you EXCITED?

Thursday:

Blue cheese, bacon, tomato, carmelized onions on sourdough from the fancy grilled cheese restaurant in Mystic.

Toddler table. The cute is out of CONTROL.

Adorable thrifted vintage baby clothes (and handmade headbands) from an AMAZING internet friend. Thank you @heathermbyrd!!

Friday:

First shoes!

Meal planning. It took me three days and I still haven't actually MADE any of them.

New (amazing) lens. I can now take pictures of each of Caroline's eyelashes.

Saturday:

8 am, where else would I be?

Swoopy hair, sleepy face

More wine, less whine.

I plan to spend Sunday napping as much as possible – I feel like I’ve been beaten (thanks to Stroller Strides) and sleep deprived (thanks to a teething baby) and starved (thanks to eating like a fat kid on vacay followed by a return to my diet) – while I thoroughly neglect my children. Luckily they’re pretty self sufficient if you throw a few cheese sticks at them and turn on Nick Jr. I am the best mother EVER.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

If a genie came out of a lamp right now and offered me 3 wishes, they would all involve going back to the beach house on Kiawah Island and never ever leaving (after the wish for more wishes. DUH.) I would need the extra wishes to cover the bazillion dollars for maintenance and the electric bill and the toilet paper delivery guy. Because people who own beach mansions on gated islands can’t be expected to purchase their OWN toilet paper. If you happen to know of any genies looking for work, please send them my way.

(Totally unrelated side note except for the genie thing: we’re watching Aladdin right now with the kids for the first time as a way to ease back into home life and I am proud to report I can still recite all of it from memory.)

Leading up to this vacation, E was kind of…what’s a nice way to say “suffering from an epic eye-rolling condition?” I would say “Yah the BEACH!” and he would say “Blah, I hate sand.” I would say “I heard they have a fully stocked liquor cabinet!” and E would say “They sell beer in Connecticut.” I would say “It will be so nice to get away!” and he would sigh and say “But we have to drive SO FAR.” He was like Vacation Eeyore.

But besides a few screamy moments from the kids in the car – truly just a FEW and pretty justified on their part after so many hours strapped into carseats – it was the perfect vacation. It took E less than 10 minutes to be totally on board with the whole thing and become Vacation Dora The Explorer. “WOW! LOOK AT THIS POOL! IT IS GREAT! DON’T YOU LOVE THIS POOL? I LOVE POOLS! AGUA!”

I already mentioned that my friends were great with my kids, but it also helped that my kids were REALLY REALLY well behaved. All my (not unreasonable) fears about the toddler escaping the house and falling in the pool or running down to the beach proved unnecessary and he was more than happy to just hang out with whatever adult’s arms were currently empty. And besides the sleeplessness related to a brand new top tooth, Caroline was a tiny ginger angel who did nothing but coo and make doe-eyes at everyone. It FELT like a vacation, even with a 2-to-2 parent-child ratio, which is pretty damn amazing.

This here is the part where I post fifty bazillionty photos of the beach and the beach house and brag until you want to punch me in the face, so if you’re currently in your third straight year of never having a vacation that doesn’t involve sleeping on an air mattress while visiting your in-laws in Tulsa you might want to click away. I would totally hate you for going on this vacation too.

Beach house - front side

Beach House - beach side

Walkway to the beach

Low tide puddle stomping

I'm not sure that couch is big enough.

Floating spiral staircase

Looking up from the ground floor

One of the bedrooms NO ONE USED (There are six total).

The bathroom attached to the bedroom Little Evan used (We put the kids on the top floor to keep them away from the noise but accidentally took the two nicest bathrooms too)

Grow-your-own-train-set capsules with Aunt Sara

Having a very serious football talk with Erin's husband Elliot

Probably going on our Christmas cards

Father/daughter

Fun with our camera remote

Run fast!

I think I'm going to use this one for Caroline's Modern Bird art (minus my Photoshop effect)

We are smiling because the ocean was as warm as bath water

Bird chasing (taken with the super awesome paparazzi lens)

Windblown baby

Is there anything more joyful than a toddler running full speed towards someone who will catch him?

Flying

Pool area, complete with outdoor kitchen, outdoor bathroom and hot tub

Pool time

Someone loves the water

Underwater camera

Little Evan and Sara play "Jaws", where he makes you push him around the pool while he sings the theme song

We'll have her on a surf board by next summer

Is it too soon to start planning to do it again next year?

I’ve known these girls since I was 15 and brand new to my hugemongous high school in Northern Virginia. We didn’t start out as the best of friends (possible understatement of the year) but when you live through puberty and graduation and college and life together and are still on speaking terms it creates kind of chemical bond that means you’re destined to be together forever. It’s science. We met because we were all involved in the drama department (and OH the DRAMA that was involved in that department!) but that’s where the similarities end. Each in a different year of school, different colleges, different careers, different stages of our life, and always so so busy.

But turning 30 is a Big Deal, so come hell or high water (or two hurricanes that managed to just miss ruining our weekend) we knew we needed time to catch up.

Thank GOD they’re the kind of friends who think your baby is adorable and laugh hysterically when your toddler photobombs all your pictures.

Because even if you don’t change at ALL when you have kids and cling desperately to every ounce of childless coolness your old self ever contained, you are still your old self WITH KIDS. And kids have needs, and naptimes, and bedtimes and are loud and messy and generally regarded by your child-free friends with the same amount of enthusiasm as they’d regard a raging case of herpes. Your social calendar empties like so many wine glasses of your youth and you’re left with wedding pictures featuring bridesmaids you haven’t seen since you announced you were expecting.

Not THESE friends.

These friends teach your baby how to walk and show your toddler the cool seashells. They don’t consider their vacation ruined by the presence of your children. They think your kids are super well behaved and they tell you so.

We started as three and now we are seven.

And we are DEFINITELY DOING THIS AGAIN.

E, Me, Caroline, Elliot, Erin, Sara and Little Evan

When I was 17 and trying to decide where to go to college, my mom and I visited half a dozen schools up and down the southeast coast (I was going to be a marine biologist, so was focused on schools near the water)(Also, BEACH. Duh.) But when we got to Charleston, South Carolina I was done. The Spanish moss hanging from the old bent trees, the houses squished sideways, the low-tide-pluff-mud smell. It’s fantastic, all of it.

We’re back in South Carolina for a few days, to serve as margarita and cake makers for one of my oldest friend’s 30th birthday celebrations. We’ve crashed a relative of a friend’s beach house that is only a “beach house” in the sense that it is on the beach – it’s like an HGTV Dream Home except I AM IN IT.

So please excuse the bloggy silence for a few days, while we’re busy doing lots of this: